Post your ride pics

[Boomer Cycles]

@SteveO, @WingsandWheels and I took in the City of Falls Church fireworks and then SteveO and I did some beerneuring on July 4th, by bike. It was great to be able to circumvent both the road blockages and throngs of people, with much easier access and exit by bike.

[bobco85]

For Independence Day weekend, I decided to go on a 200 mile (202.8 at the end) bike/camp trip up the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Towpath. My goal was to make it to the halfway point (somewhere around mile 92.25, but I made sure to hit milepost 93 just to be sure) and back in 3 days. With my hybrid bike and cargo trailer in tow, I had no idea how difficult this would be with the muddy and rutted path combined with lugging extra gear and riding farther on my hybrid bike than I had ever done before (most up til then was ~50 miles on a trip to/from IKEA in College Park from Arlington). I had hoped to return in time to watch our women’s World Cup team win it all, but sadly I arrived home about an hour after the match was over (I watched a replay the next day, at least). I biked from my apartment to the start of the C&O Canal in Georgetown at milepost 0 and returned the same way.

I highly recommend getting the C&O Canal app as it provided a lot of necessary information regarding campsites, stores, restaurants, places to get water, etc. in relation to mileage.

I see a lot of others on this forum going on awesome adventures which inspires me to do the same. I hope I can pass that along to more people because these kinds of trips are the ones worth living for.

I plan on making a video of the trip, but for now, here are some photos I took:

(top row – Day 1: stopping at the Great Falls overlook; morning rain-soaked spot at Bald Eagle Island Hiker Biker campsite (wear earplugs as there are train tracks nearby, and I counted 14 separate trains during the night that were so loud that they sounded like they were passing through the middle of my tent!))
(bottom row – Day 2: proof of my crossing the midpoint of the C&O Canal, view from the James Rumsey (inventor of the steamboat) Bridge at Shepherdstown WV, dry spot where I could watch some local fireworks along the river at Huckleberry Hill Hiker Biker campsite which luckily did not have the train noise issue)
[IMG]http://bikearlingtonforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=9062&stc=1[/IMG]

Some of the wildlife I encountered on my way
(top row: frog, geese, great blue heron)
(bottom row: barred owl, eastern tiger swallowtail, turtles, deer)
[IMG]http://bikearlingtonforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=9063&stc=1[/IMG]

Day 3 stuff
(top row: lock #36 filled in, at Harpers Ferry WV where the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers meet)
(bottom row: bridge to/from Harpers Ferry that is part of the Appalachian Trail, water pump requiring some elbow grease for water plus note how my RED cargo trailer is not so red anymore due to all the mud)
[IMG]http://bikearlingtonforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=9064&stc=1[/IMG]

And who could forget the delicious food?
(top row: hungry on Day 1 for chicken fingers and fries at Aroma House in Point of Rocks MD, Day 2 strawberry royale and chocolate chip ice cream from Barron’s which is adjacent to the towpath at milepost 76.
(bottom row: Day 3 returning to Aroma House in Point of Rocks MD for a really delicious chicken fajita pizza which had an especially good crust, my lunch set-up for each day with pb&j and some TJ’s cheese cracker bites which I swear have crack in them!)
[IMG]http://bikearlingtonforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=9065&stc=1[/IMG]

[dbb]

Was on vacation and off the bike for a while. Suffering withdrawal, I walked down to a local bike rental store and got a fix. $5 for an hour seemed reasonable (I was unable to navigate the local bikeshare system due to phone issues – you use your phone to check the bike out)

I was able to find a bike lane that seemed flat and safe

That my trusty steed was able to deal with the hills. A bell would have helped with the traffic.

There were a number of cyclists riding for utility. The rack on this bike was holding the gent’s surfboard.

Utility bikes were everywhere

The cyclists were as bold as the local drivers, racking up a number of maneuvers that would have netted them a missed connection if done locally. Everybody was riding comparatively slowly and we all survived. I was particularly amazed at the motorcycles filtering in moving traffic with up to a 20 mph speed difference and a narrow gap. I saw motorcycles pass through a four foot wide gap between cars at speed.

[dbb]

Cargo bikes were everywhere in Rio.

Note the foot brake and the suspension for the cargo compartment.

I was bummed that I failed to get a photo of bikes with BBQ grills permanently mounted on the cargo compartment. They were ridden by vendors and were both cycling and grilling simultaneously. Might be pretty good idea for a BikeArlington BBQBike.

[cyclingfool]

some TJ’s cheese cracker bites which I swear have crack in them!)

I work at Trader Joe’s at present, and one of my main job responsibilities is opening each box of cracker bites and sprinkling on the crack, so you are correct.

On a serious note, nice looking trip and pics. Life has thrown me some curveballs the last several months, but I still harbor hopes of making it out for a night or two on the C&O with my bike, a tent, and possibly my 3 year old son.

[Powerful Pete]

@dbb, love the Rio pictures.

Lots of Spanish Moss here…

[Greenbelt]

Three badass stooges at Vigilante coffee in Hyattsville

[PotomacCyclist]

@83(b) 119425 wrote:

I ride in Anacostia and other East of the River neighborhoods quite a bit. Interestingly, I’ve always found the drivers (on weekends) to be much kinder/safer than they generally are in NW and Virginia. There are some great hills to hit too. And I’ve never had any issues with feeling unsafe (and have actually had more problems closer to home around the Potomac Ave and Eastern Market metros).

And there are some neighborhoods that have seriously nice and well-priced housing stock given how close in to the city it is. With Brookland, Trinidad, and Eckington et al. all experiencing considerable appreciation, I don’t think it will be too long before people get over the psychological hurdle of the river and start looking to buy out that way. Especially younger folks who aren’t thinking about schools yet.

Looks like the boom is already starting in Anacostia: http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/breaking_ground/2015/07/let-the-bidding-wars-begin-anacostia-housing.html

“While the $240,000 median sale price in Anacostia is still far lower than the $550,000 D.C. median, prices rose more than 36 percent in Anacostia over the last three months compared with the same time last year. The increase was much higher than D.C.’s 4.8 percent average, according to data provided by Redfin.”

“Housing inventory fell 19 percent in Anacostia, compared with a 4 percent fall across D.C., according to data provided by Redfin.”

[Greenbelt]

New bike parking at Franklins in Hyattsville. On the Trolley trail and just a bit up Route 1 from the NW Branch trail.
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[jrenaut]

Rented bikes on Bainbridge Island

IMG_20150711_132719270 by Jon, on Flickr

Shore Access by Jon, on Flickr

[bobco85]

I just finished the video of my 3-day biking adventure along the C&O Canal over Independence Day weekend. There are a few parts where I wanted to just have the sounds of the area I was in, so they might be a little quiet when they come up. As I stated in an earlier post, I hope to inspire others to try crazy trips like this.

[PotomacCyclist]

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You may have heard of the annual PARK(ing) Day in September, when street parking spaces are temporarily converted into mini-parks, as a way of showing what city neighborhoods might look like with fewer asphalt parking spaces and more green spaces.

The Golden Triangle BID and Gensler Architects are trying out a longer-term parklet near 2020 K St NW, from July through October.

http://districtsource.com/2015/07/parklet-to-replace-two-k-street-parking-spaces-through-october/

[PotomacCyclist]

The Golden Triangle BID has also partnered with the DC Dept. of the Environment to create small Urban Rain Gardens on 19th St. These help with water runoff control and water pollution, by helping to filter out rainwater, instead of letting it all collect and pour directly into the Potomac River. They also add a little bit of nature to downtown DC.

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[PotomacCyclist]

The Display Ship Barry, docked at the Washington Navy Yard. But not for long. The Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge (S. Capitol Street, near Nationals Park) will be replaced, with construction work scheduled to begin later this year. To save on costs, the new bridge will not include a drawbridge. As a result, it will be impossible to move the ship from the Navy Yard after the bridge is completed. So the Navy will move the ship before work on the bridge begins. The ship will be dismantled.

It’s a shame. I didn’t even know about the ship until recently.

The 3rd picture shows all the garbage in the Anacostia River, near the ship. I see a lot of people throwing out plastic containers and bottles all the time, even when there are recycling bins a couple feet away or just down the hall. Maybe people think their rights are being infringed somehow by putting all those plastic bottles into a recycling bin. It doesn’t cost them any money or time (other than a few seconds) to use the recycling bin. Recycling isn’t perfect, and I’ve seen maintenance people toss all the recycling bin items into the regular garbage. But it would be nice if people made an effort to help, especially when it’s so simple for them to do.

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[Supermau]

Cape Canaveral

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